Harvest Moon: Magical Melody

Secret Agent Dia

On the afternoon of the Fall Horse Race Festival, two young women carefully walked behind the seemingly empty woodshop.

Gina, a young nurse with light-blue hair wearing matching dress and big round glasses, had a relaxed smile.

Her companion was a young lady with an aristocratic green dress and raven black hair adorned with a flowery yellow hair band. She looked more anxious than her collected partner.

"I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky that they didn't think it suspicious to see a sickly girl walking around the woods every once on a while" Gina grinned.

Dia sighed. "Yeah, the only one who actually sees me out there is Jack. If anyone else paid attention to me, our whole cover could've been compromised."

Gina gently patted her more affluent-looking friend's back. "Just relax, then! If we made it this far without being discovered, I'm sure we'll be able to complete this mission in no time!"

"But that's exactly what you said when we tried to infiltrate Daryl's lab! And look where that got us! We were almost eaten by plants!" Dia exclaimed. "I should've known the schoolgirl disguise was too conspicuous."

Gina giggled. "I admit. You looked really adorable back then in that sailor suit! All the guys were certainly giving you looks. Especially that Rock boy. I think he would've actually proposed, too!"

Dia's face turned bright right. "G-Gina! Enough!"

"Okay, got it!" Gina said with her thumbs up while containing her further laughter.

The raven-haired secret agent looked at the upcoming woodshop with deep regret.

"We've come across plenty of interesting men in our line of work, and yet the one I have actually taken a liking to might actually be an enemy" she sighed.

"You mean Kurt?" Gina added, "Well, that flame-haired carpenter has certainly been nice to you since we moved in here. I even catch him looking towards the upstairs with deep yearning; but we won't know how he truly feels until you confront him each other with the truth."

Dia took her friend's words in most deeply and harshly. "I... I understand. It's just... it's pretty nice to actually get along with someone out of the agency like this. Sure he's a bit antisocial, but I feel that he's really kind at heart."

Gina gently placed a hand on Dia's hand. "Don't worry, partner! There's always the chance that maybe Kurt has absolutely no clue what's going on! Or if he is, maybe he was just hypnotized, or even brainwashed! That kind of thing tends to be pretty common nowadays, y'know!"

With her partner's comfort, Dia felt revitalized. "Maybe!" she said hopefully.

After a little while, the spy pair reached the door. Dia carefully checked for traps while Gina observed around her to check for any interlopers. The raven-haired agent jiggled around the doorknob for a bit, then she slowly opened the door. The two then slowly made their way inside.

Dia became nervous once more. "Gina, I don't like it. The door wasn't locked. Maybe they expected us. Maybe this is another trap" she uttered under her breath.

"Or maybe Woody expected Kurt and Joe to make a quick return here, and didn't want to give them the hassle of unlocking the door for them." she answered in a "matter-of-fact" tone.

Dia sighed. "You know, you can be way too optimistic sometimes"

Gina pointed up her right index finger. "Then I guess I partnered up with you to balance out your skepticism, then!"

Dia shrugged. "I guess that makes sense..."

After taking a quick look around the shop, the two young ladies saw nothing out of place.

"Dia, let me check this room for anything suspicious. You go ahead and check the living room. If we still haven't seen anything, we'll have to check upstairs together." Gina explained.

Dia nodded before proceeding into the living room up ahead. Meanwhile, Gina thoroughly checked every table, chest, compartment, and panel for signs of something conspicuous. Unfortunately, she could find nothing. At the living room, Dia checked over and under anything. She even checked the TV and turned it on while keeping it mute. Sadly, she had no luck either. The two of them met by the stairs in disappointment.

"This is bad. We could've received a false lead" Dia uttered in worry.

"Not a problem. We still have upstairs to check. Not only that, we could always go over Jamie again. We haven't thoroughly checked that rancher's background, and there's still a whole lot of mystery surrounding that character!" she answered.

"Unfortunately, I cannot allow you to do either", a gruff voice called out.

The two young ladies looked up to find a hardened old man wearing a green bandanna and red shirt. In his hands were two sharp and shiny axes ready to cut down some unsightly trees, or in this case, some unsightly spies.

"Woody!" Dia explained.

"So, I guess this place really DOES have something to hide!" Gina grinned as she pointed a finger at the battle-ready carpenter.

"Yes, and I'm afraid that's something you're not going to live long enough to find out." he gloated.

The old carpenter then faced the open door. "Joe! Kurt! Get rid of these pests!"

Dia let out a big gasp as two young men sprung from the entrance.

One was an eager lad fully clothed in a patriotic outfit with a star-spangled bandanna and red and white striped shirt.

The other was a tough guy with brown spiky hair held up by a camouflage palette bandanna and various other army-thumbed clothes.

Both young men held hatchets, and were ready to attack.

"Well, well! It sure is nice to meet you lovely ladies on a beautiful afternoon! 'Such a shame I'll have to send you on your way so soon!" Joe grinned.

Gina smiled understandingly. "Thank you for such a gracious complement, Joe! I still find it hard to believe the other girls aren't flocking to you with such a charming presence! Don't you think so, Dia?"

Dia scoffed as she took out a moon-shaped badge. "We are with the Rural Espionage Agency, code named Harvest Moon. You are charged with the disappearance of Ray Leif Wegner and the defilement of the Harvest Goddess! I suggest you turn yourselves in, or we will apprehend all involved parties by force!" she announced.

Woody looked most intrigued by Dia's proclamation. "Harvest Moon, huh? Then we're dealing with top-notch professionals" he muttered to himself.

"We choose to resist. We cannot let you keep us from our ultimate objective" Kurt answered back with regret in his tone.

"You heard what my brother said! We're gonna take you guys out right here, right now!" Joe cried.

Before another word could be said, Gina immediately delivered a stunning flying jump kick to Joe's jaw and disarmed him with a swift karate chop.

Meanwhile, Kurt remained in standing menacingly with his readied weapon, while Dia went into a praying mantis kung fu stance. Both adversaries exchanged somber expressions.

"I don't understand it! Kurt, why are you doing this? I know you're really a nice guy at heart, and yet I see you conspiring with villains! What purpose would disposing a fisherman and silencing a Harvest Goddess serve you?" Dia cried desperately.

A single tear fell from Kurt's solemn gaze. He turned his head to look at an amused Woody, then turned back to a heartbroken spy. "Dia, I'm sorry... this is something I must do. I understand if you can never forgive me."

The solemn carpenter apprentice then rushed Dia at full speed with hatchet ready to strike. Kurt first delivered a quick horizontal strike, which Dia blocked easy. She was about to deliver a palm strike to Kurt's face when Kurt went for a surprise blow from below with a driving knee. Dia quickly leapt backwards, and Kurt came forward with a vertical strike, which Dia avoided with another step backwards. The determined kept pushing his opponent backwards with a continual mix of vertical, diagonal, and horizontal strikes which kept Dia from going on the offensive. With her back just a few feet from the wall, Dia knew she had to mount some sort of offense. Kurt then struck once more with a vertical attack, which Dia dodged and maneuvered into a phoenix stance. She then responded with a rising kick that sent Kurt into the grown at full force. Dia then looked upon her fallen foe with deep remorse.

"... I'm sorry..." she softly whispered.

Fresh from their recent victories, the two cooperative agents turned to deal with Woody, who immediately reacted by throwing his two axes right at them. Both ladies dodged the projectiles rather easily, and ran straight at the frenzied old man. Unfortunately, he still had some axes close by and sent a few more towards the ladies as they reached full speed. Gina leapt out of the way of the axe aimed at her, while Dia chopped away hers. Both ladies then jumped into the air and retaliated with a double flying kick, which Woody blocked with two more axes he stored in secret. Dia and Gina were forced to jump back, but the old carpenter didn't waste his time as he rushed in and mystified his opponents with his axe-based kung fu.

Dia and Gina tried desperately to surround and fight the geezer front to back, but they struggled to keep up with his movements. Every single movement Woody made was amazingly fast and furious, and his axe strikes were especially lethal. Eventually, the wizened carpenter trapped the two young ladies into a corner.

"Very well done, girls. You've provided me with quite the challenge, but I'm afraid I'll have to end your promising careers with Harvest Moon right here and now!" he crowed a sadistic smile on his face.

The old man was about to deliver the finishing blows to the two agents when he was suddenly forced to spin around chop away two flying needles. Woody was shocked to see the dashing young figure standing right at the door.

"...You!" he shouted while looking like he was about to have a stroke.

The young man grinned. He had full head of black hair atop his handsome face. On his body was an olive green shirt with a darker green die, all underneath a flowing white lab coat. He also wore some grayish blue jeans over a pair of brown leather shoes.

"Wild-eyed Woody... it's been a while. I'm just sorry I couldn't say hello sooner. I had some patients to take care of, you know" he answered.

Dia let out a sigh of relief while Gina welcomed the young man earnestly. "Dr. Alex! Thanks for the assist!" she called out.

The young man nodded. "Not a problem" he called back. He then drew out two scalpels and charged straight at Woody.

"Leave the old man to me, ladies! Just go check out what's upstairs and disable any dangerous devices!" He cried as he matched Woody strike by strike with his two utensils.

"Got it!" Both ladies shouted simultaneously as they rushed the stairs.

"It's about time we settle this once and for all, whippersnapper!" Woody shouted as he assaulted Alex with a few spinning kicks.

"I'll be happy to oblige!" Alex said as he jumped and ducked the incoming attack with ease.

Gina and Dia made it up the stairs only to find an utterly dark second floor.

Dia groaned. "I can't see a thing up here! Where's the light switch, anyway?" she complained.

"Oh! I found it! Now to shed some light on our situation!" she remarked as she flipped it.

With the room finally illuminated, both young ladies looked across the room to find a gigantic raygun with another senior citizen standing right in front.

This particular old man wore a brown ranger's outfit with a matching brown hunting cap. In his hands was a threatening shotgun aimed straight at the two agents. He was clearly unpleased by their presence.

"It seems you little ladies have stumbled upon my secret weapon. But I can't have you blathering about it to the authorities, can I?" he called out in a grunting voice.

"Terry! You mean, you're the mastermind?" Dia cried.

"In any case, we're not going to let you get away with whatever you did to poor Ray!" Gina called out.

The aged ranger gave a loud grunt before he spoke once again.

"Ah yes, Ray... that meddling hobo. It's a shame that young man had to get curious about our humble establishment. Otherwise he wouldn't have ended up at the bottom of the sea as a rock decoration. It's a good thing we reached the Harvest Goddess as well and blasted her with our stone ray, or else she might've stopped us with her divine powers." he said.

Dia gasped. "T-t-the Harvest Goddess? You mean... you turned HER to stone?"

Terry nodded. "Of course. It didn't matter too much to the other folks, though. Everyone else was convinced she was just some statue, while no one notices them little elves guarding the place."

Dia scratched her head in confusion. "Elves? What is he talking about? We've scouted the area quite often, and I've never seen any elves."

Gina gave her partner an amused smile. "Perhaps the poor old man's gone a little senile."

At that comment, Terry gave a loud cough.

"Unfortunately, my stone ray takes quite a bit of time to charge up, so I'm gonna have to take care of you with my trusty hunting shotgun" he called out.

Dia stared at the old hunter's weapon nervously. "Uh... isn't that kinda overkill for a hunting weapon?" she asked.

"Not if I'm gonna take care of some whelps" he answered.

"Good enough" Dia nervously called back.

"Anyway, what is the point of all this? Why develop an enormous stone ray, anyway?" Gina asked.

Terry let out another loud grunt. "That's a really good question, little lady. You see, I'm tired of people poisoning the beauty of the wilderness with your so-called modernization and your extortion of the lands. The city people are especially despicable" he explained.

Dia growled. "And that justifies your reasons of turning innocent people into stone?" she cried out.

Terry nodded. "Of course. If you unappreciative folk would be good as anything, it would be as harmless scenery. At least in that way, you'll help beautify the wonders of nature" he explained.

The young ladies readied themselves in defensive positions as Terry turned his head to the side.

"Too long have I allowed the wondrous bounties of nature suffer in the hands of the ignorant. So many species have gone endangered, even extinct, thanks to the carelessness of the foolish. Well, no more! With the dawning of the new age I've proposed, nature will once again thrive like it should! True peace will finally reign in this corrupt world, and---"

The two agents interrupted the maniacal villain's ranting by delivering two powerful punches to Terry's mid-side, which the ranger blocked easily. He then swatted them away with his riffle and sent a shotgun blast their way, which both ladies narrowly dodged.

"He's certainly riled up!" Dia blurted out.

Both girls again charged at Terry, but were again forced to move out of the way with another well-aimed shotgun blast. The wily hunter than moved forward and started ruthlessly blasting away. With bullets flying all over the place, Dia was forced to run up a nearby wall and sprint on the ceiling while Gina rushed ahead on the ground front. Terry was forced to alternate blasting upwards and forward to keep either of them from getting in close. Despite his best efforts, the agent in light blue quickly got behind Terry and was about to knock him out with a karate chop to the neck, until the crafty old man sent the handle end of his shotgun crashing straight into the nurse's gut, knocking her down. Dia then pushed off the ceiling and went into an eagle dive straight at Terry's face, but he quickly responded with another blast of his shotgun, which Dia avoided by somersaulting in midair. Terry blasted again as soon as the graceful agent perfectly stuck her landing, but Dia immediately dodged right. She then moved in and delivered a flurry of punches, palm thrusts, and kicks, which Terry managed to completely nullify with his handy shotgun. Again, the stubborn old many batted Dia away with his riffle, and sent a few more shots at the determined girl.

Thinking quickly, Terry spotted an unconscious Gina lying directly under the aiming point of the ray gun. The deranged forest ranger activated his devious device, and remained stationed at the controls.

"Come on, little lady! I'd really like to see you save your friend, now. Of course, go after her, and you'll give me a pretty easy target. Then you could try and deactivate the stone ray yourself, but it's much too complicated for even a trained agent like you to figure out so quickly, and don't forget who's guarding the thing. Now, don't be shy and take a course of action!" he taunted.

Dia quivered out of uncertainty. "This isn't good. I've never before had to act without Gina to assist me. Even when we were trapped by the plants, Gina was conscious and ready to help out. But now I have to try and save her. How am I to go about handling this?" she thought to herself.

The desperate agent then eyed the demented ranger and sprinted with full speed. Terry shot blast after blast to slow down Dia's efforts, but she was just too fast. After dodging a few more shotgun bursts, Dia jumped high into the air and came down hard with a gravity-enhanced axe kick, which Terry struggled to block with his shotgun. He then pushed his trusted weapon forward, launching Dia into a back flip. Terry once again prepared to fire, but Dia was already beat him on the offensive and knocked away his only weapon with a devastating crescent kick from the right, followed up with an elbow that sent him flying into the controls.

With little time left to spare, Dia darted towards her unconscious friend, scooped her up, and rolled herself out of the way merely moments before the ray gun fired.

Dia breathed hard as she recovered from her recent set of maneuvers while Gina awoke from her blackout.

"Ummm... er... What exactly am I doing on the floor like this?" she said as she looked around the villainous organization's headquarters. She then turned to her trusted companion. "Dia? Why are you so tired? Don't we have a mission to finish?"

As the two lady spies took their time to recover, the desperate ranger weakly got on all floors and slowly crawled to his shotgun. The villain inched closer and closer to his trusted weapon, hindered only by the beating he received from Dia. As the shotgun was merely a few feet from his grasp, his newfound trumph was tarnished by the needles that forced back his arms.

Right by the stairs stood a very amused Alex, completely unscathed by his previous battle with Woody. "Sorry to spoil your little party like this. I just got done taking care of your valued assassin, and I had nothing else to do."

Alex then smoothly gestured towards his two fellow agents as he turned to face them. "Did I miss anything?"

Again, the two of them looked relieved to see their veteran agent.

"Not much, really. We just came up here to teach someone a much-need lesson" Gina responded.

Alex then walked over and gave Terry a swift kick to the stomach, knocking him to the ground. He then snatched the shotgun nearby along with some ammunition around the old ranger's belt. "It looks like to me you two are incredibly capable teachers" he remarked.

Dia and Gina bowed their heads respectfully. "Thank you, Alex!" they cried in unison.

The suave doctor then aimed the confiscated shotgun directly at the ray gun.

"Ladies, can you please escort our kind guests outside the premises? I have a closing ceremony to perform" he asked politely.

The two ladies vigorously nodded as they carried the unconscious Terry down the stairs. After carefully listening for eight door slams, Alex proceeded to blast away at the devious device and quickly reduced it to large metal hunk of Swiss cheese crackling with electricity.

Calmly, the debonair doctor made his way down the stairs. Right after he opened the door to the outside, Alex paused for a moment and looked at the stairs with a grin.

"Mission Accomplished" he uttered in a pleased tone.

In a matter of moments, the ray gun reached critical point and could not longer stabilize. It flashed a few times in a dazzling light before it finally exploded in a huge pillar of fire that enveloped the entire woodshop.

Some great distance away, the successful agents were able to enjoy the beautiful display of destruction as they took their time to cuff and lock away their perpetrators.

However, one particular agent was too busy embracing a spiky-haired man with tears in her eyes.